Weather Forecast

Hayden Pollmann converts an extra point out of the hold of Wes Anderjaska. (DeAnn Davis | The Wauneta Breeze)

By Diane Stamm

The Wauneta Breeze

The Wauneta-Palisade Broncos were unable to pick up its first win of the football season Friday at Maywood.

The 58-26 victory was the Tigers’ first win since September 2011.

W-P was unable to move the ball heading into the wind on its first possession of the game.

Maywood, however, was able to score in four plays to take the early lead.

Getting the ball back, the Broncos had a drive typical of its season.

W-P drove the ball to the Maywood five-yard line, but was unable to score.

“It’s been the story of our season,” said co-head coach Randy Geier about the drive. “We need to do a better job of execution.”

Facing the long field didn’t bother Maywood. The Tigers had runs of 39 and 41 yards, both on third downs, en route to another touchdown,

Trailing 0-12, Hayden Pollmann got the Broncos on the scoreboard, answering Maywood’s second touchdown with a 60-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Following a touchdown on Maywood’s ensuing drive, the Broncos drove to the Tigers’ 14-yard line with 39.4 seconds left in the half. An interception by Maywood ended the Broncos’ threat.

Receiving the ball to start the half, Maywood scored two touchdowns in less than two minutes, thanks to a Broncos’ fumble.

The Broncos’ tough luck continued. W-P threw an interception and had a punt blocked in the third quarter. Each led to a Maywood touchdown.

The Broncos were able to add points to the scoreboard by way of the long play. Pollmann was on the receiving end of a Wes Anderjaska touchdown pass and Lorenzo Cavanaugh returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Maywood unfortunately continued to find the end zone, finishing the third quarter with 33 points.

Though Maywood scored early in the fourth quarter, W-P ended the game with a 60-yard Cavanaugh scramble to bring the final score to 26-58.

Geier said it was tough offensively going into the strong wind.

The Broncos completed seven-of-13 passes for 106 yards.

Anderjaska had 11 rushes for 51 yards, while Chris Carl had 10 rushes for 42 yards.

Anderjaska also led the Broncos with 15 tackles. Gage Crowell had two sacks and seven solo tackles.

Maywood completed three-of-five passing for 84 yards. The Tigers had 40 rushes for 290 yards. Senior Jericho Vieyra was responsible for all five pass attempts for the Tigers and rushed 32 times for 293 yards.

Geier said Vieyra is a very athletic player and Maywood spread the Broncos out giving Vieyra lots of room to run.

The Broncos will host Banner County Friday afternoon for the season’s final home game. Kickoff will be at 3:00 p.m. MT/4:00 p.m. CT.

Banner County had committed with the NSAA to playing eight-man football, but administrators changed their minds and made the switch to six-man. Because of the late change, Banner County is not eligible for the Six-Man playoffs and the games do not count against opponents’ records.

The Wildcats have beaten Cody-Kilgore and Maywood while losing to Hyannis and Arthur County.